flex vs toughen up

flex

verb
  • To bend something. 

  • To move part of the body using one's muscles. 

  • To repeatedly bend one of one's joints. 

  • To flaunt one's superiority. 

  • To tighten the muscles for display of size or strength. 

noun
  • The act of flaunting something; something one considers impressive. 

  • Any flexible insulated electrical wiring. 

  • Flexible ductwork, typically flexible plastic over a metal wire coil to shape a tube. 

  • An act of flexing. 

  • A point of inflection. 

  • Flexibility, pliancy. 

toughen up

verb
  • To make or become mentally tougher. 

How often have the words flex and toughen up occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )